Researchers Made a New Message for Extraterrestrials

When we discover intelligent life beyond Earth, the first question we are most likely to ask is how to communicate. The majority of stars in our galaxy host planets and many of them appear to be capable of hosting liquid water on their surface, which is a prerequisite for life as we know it. The odds that at least one of these billions of planets has produced intelligent life seem favorable enough to spend some time figuring out how to say hello.

A paper detailing a new design for a message intended for extraterrestrial recipients was posted on the preprint server arXiv.org in March. The 13-page epistle is meant to be a basic introduction to mathematics, chemistry and biology that draws heavily on the design of the Arecibo message and other past attempts at contacting extraterrestrials. A dense ring of stars near the center of our galaxy was proposed as a promising destination by the researchers, who included a detailed plan for the best time of year to broadcast the message. The return address on the transmission will hopefully help aliens locate our location in the galaxy so they can start a conversation.